1798 Shil S-3747 Without stops above MS(PCGS#366615)

May 2005 Pre-Long Beach Auction #31

拍卖行

Goldberg Auctioneers

批号

2433

等级

MS62

价格

228,432

详细说明

George III. S-3747, portrait style of the 1787 currency issue but with the distinctive date, which appears on no other English shilling. Plain edge. ESC-1243, as <I>R5, 5 to 10 known.</I> Engraved by John Milton (see the 1799 Fullerton halfcrown for more commentary on the engraver). Classic bifurcated letters in the legends, and a real study in 18th-century die-cutting in addition to being a major silver rarity. In fact, this is one of the most famous of all shillings, yet most cataloguers comment very briefly on it, as have a number of those who have penned histories of British coins. Josset says importantly that the price of silver rose steadily from 1792 to 1814 during the war with Napoleon, which explains in part why so little silver coinage appeared in these years from the Royal Mint. Many numismatists assume that the 1787-dated issue of sixpence and shillings continued for more than one year, explaining the ready supply of those coins even today. Craig provides the best insight into this little understood issue, as follows: after the Bank of England, under its authority, had countless Spanish 8 Real silver crowns counterstamped with the king's head in miniature, the price of silver fell temporarily to almost pre-war levels. It was not to last. In April of 1798, the mint began turning silver specie and old coins supplied by ten London banks into new shillings, but within a month it was discovered by the mint that there had never been an official order for such coins, from Parliament. The Privy Council ordered the mint to halt production of all silver coins. No one at the time seems to have understood if sufficient authority (during war) had or had not been granted for this coinage, so the mint melted almost all the shillings it coined in 1798. Silver bars and even scrap was also melted, turned into ingots. The ten banks were repaid the silver they had lent for the coinage. Barclay's and Hoare's Banks were the largest contributors. The smallest silver contribut